May NONFICTION selection TAKING PRECAUTIONS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF BIRTH CONTROL

[El]

We will be reading Shyama Perera's Taking Precautions: An Intimate History of Birth Control for the Non-Fiction portion of May.

I've been wanting to read this for a while, since it first came to my attention in this group. (Anita? Alexa? I don't remember now, but thanks to whoever it was!) I'll be putting in a request at the library for a copy of this one.

Has anyone else read it already? Initial thoughts? Who is planning on joining us for this read?

[El]

Oh, no! My library actually doesn't have this book. :(

[Anita]

ah! Mine neither! Not even interlibrary loan... will check online next

[Anita]

If your library has WorldCat access you may be able to borrow from a college or university near you. Should work the same as interlibrary loan except it may take a while to get to you, so look now!

[El]

Thanks, looks like the closest is on the other side of the state. But I work on a university campus, so I put word out to my librarian friend to see if she has any tricks up her sleeve to get it more easily than that.

ETA: My magician-librarian friend on campus showed me how to request from Penn State, so now I wait. :) Thanks for the reminder, Anita.

[Summer]

I'm looking forward to this one! Sounds really interesting.

[El]

Oh, no, Sofia! That's disappointing to hear. At least it sounds like it was a quick read. :)

[El]

The E-Z Borrow system at my campus library is amazing. Requested the book from across the state on Monday, and I got the notification Wednesday night it was ready for pick-up already.

I started reading it last night before bed. I totally get what Sofia was saying, and I have only read the Introduction.

Sofia wrote: "Sadly, it reads like a pamphlet you might find in your local healthcare centre."

You are so right, Sofia. Not that I didn't believe you originally, but I was surprised when I started to read just how basic this information actually is. I wonder if it's actually geared towards younger readers? Maybe it is meant to be read in sex education/health classes in school. :/

I still intend to finish, and I'm glad to see it's less than 200 pages so I can get through it pretty quickly. I was hoping for a wealth of information, and I'm not sure if this book will provide that.

[Anna]

Hello all!

My name is Anna and I'm new to the group so I apologize if this book has been suggested before or if this has been covered in a book that the group has read that I have not yet read. But I just started reading The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution by Jonathan Eig. I don't think it covers a full history of all forms of contraception but focuses a lot more on the invention of oral contraception. But so far it's informative!

Not sure if it's exactly what the group is looking for but I just thought I would throw it out there. :)

Thanks!!

[El]

Hi, Anna, thanks so much for popping in to give us that title! I don't think we've read any books in this group on contraception before this one, so The Birth of the Pill would be good for us to read in the future. I'll add it to our To-Read bookshelf and hopefully one of us can remember to nominate it for a group read at some point. :)

[Summer]

I'm having some difficulty with this one, too. The writing just...isn't great. The information is interesting, but it's difficult to get past the writing style. I was hoping for more from this one, but I'll stick it out and see how it goes.